UK Video Game Chart: Tomb Raider holds on to beat God of War

StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm new at No.3.

Square Enix's Tomb Raider holds on for a second week at No.1, fending off Sony's big budget PS3 exclusive God of War: Ascension.

Lara's reboot dropped 72 per cent over its blockbuter first week, but sales remained strong enough to prevent God of War: Ascension from taking the top spot. The action prequel recorded the second biggest opening of all five God of War titles, but sold under half the first week total of God of War 3 three years ago.

Activision Blizzard's StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm claims third place, but is likely to have seen its retail sales hampered by the popularity of buying digitally.

Next up is City Interactive's Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 at No.4, bettering the chart performance of its successful predecessor which never climbed above No.8.

Elsewhere SimCity is pushed down to No.5, FIFA 13 is at No.6, Far Cry 3 climbs to No.7, Crysis 3 slides to No.8, Black Ops 2 is at No.9 and The Sims 3: University Life drops six places to No.10.

Further down the chart you'll find Metal Gears Rising: Revengeance, which fell ten places to No.19, followed by Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 which bombs down the chart from No.3 to No.20.

VideoGamer.com Analysis

God of War: Ascension selling fewer than half the week one total of God of War 3 is yet another indicator that the industry is ready for new platforms. Sony still has at least two major releases to come, in The Last of Us and Beyond, but will these new IPs also suffer from current generation fatigue? There's also the possibility of The Last Guardian and Gran Turismo 6 arriving on the PS3 late in its life.

Gears of War: Judgment is the major new release this week, but is likely to struggle to live up to Gears of War 3 sales, coming much earlier in the year and with heads already turned to the next generation. Also hitting stores are Monster Hunter Ultimate 3, The Walking Dead, and NFS Most Wanted on Wii U.

I don't think generation fatigue is the issue, more like "how many games in a franchise can you play before you get bored of the gameplay?" I tend to burn out after 2. I call it sequelitis.

Most gamers know that the best gaming experiences tend to hit just at the end of a console's lifecycle, so the best is probably yet to come, personally I'm waiting for one that doesn't have a '3' or higher number in the title, although I'll probably make an exception for 'V'.